Writing a Literary Analysis Personal Response: You explore your thoughts and feelings about a piece of literature. Literary Review: You discuss the merits of a particular book or series of stories. Literary Analysis: You present your understanding or interpretation of a literary work. Writing a literary analysis requires a high level of critical thinking.

Writing a Literary Analysis Starting point for your Literary Analysis: The starting point for meaningful analysis is your honest response to a piece of literature. Base your analysis on a close and careful reading of the piece of literature. Then, present your ideas in a carefully planned essay, connecting all your main points with specific references to the text.

Writing a Literary Analysis A literary analysis calls for a close examination of a novel, short story, poem, play, or essay. For example, you might analyze an intriguing character in a novel, interpret a powerful image in a poem, or evaluate the strength of the thesis in a non-fiction essay.

Writing a Literary Analysis For most exams, there are three types of questions used that require a literary analysis as a medium for response: Passage Discursive Empathic

Writing a Literary Analysis Prewriting: 1. Identify the most important points in the exam question and then develop a thesis statement to reflect the three main arguments of your essay. 2. Develop the three main points that will support your thesis, this will be the three main topic sentences for your body paragraphs. 3. Finally, gather the details from the text (textual reference) that support your main points.

Writing a Literary Analysis Re member: Your thesis statement and topic sentences for your three body paragraphs should NEVER contain summary. A Literary Analysis is NOT a summary of the main events in the text. If your essay reads like a summary, you did not do your job! Your thesis statement and topic sentences should be objective, clear, concise, and easy to understand. Do not use pointless rhetoric, or slang, or highly sophisticated language. Keep it succinct. And if you cannot identify clearly your arguments in your thesis statement, or your argument in your topic sentence; you have not done your job!

Writing a Literary Analysis Writing your essay: In the opening part—draw readers into your analysis and identify your thesis. In the middle—support your thesis using quotations, paraphrases, analysis, and personal response. In the closing—restate the thesis, emphasize the importance of one main point, or make a connection with life in general. Remember, your closing paragraph should be the most climatic and persuasive aspect of your entire essay. It is the point in your essay, after all your organization and analysis is complete, that you can now impact your reader the most with your new knowledge base and authority.

Writing a Literary Analysis Revising: Improving your writing...review your first draft and add, delete, move or rework sections as needed. Use the following questions to support you in your revisions... DO NOT BE LAZY...do not write your first draft then just turn your back on your essay. Your revisions will make a good essay great, an average essay good, and a poor essay average.

Question 1--Revisions IDEAS: Have I focused my analysis with a clear thesis statement? Have I included convincing support from the text?

Question 2--Revisions ORGANIZATION: Does my opening paragraph name the title and the author, and include a thesis statement that can be clearly identified? Do I have clear topic sentences for each one of my body paragraphs where the argument can be easily identified?

Question 3--Revisions VOICE: Do I sound knowledgeable about the literature? Is my voice appropriate for the audience?

Question 4--Revisions WORD CHOICE: Have I defined any unfamiliar terms? Is my word choice appropriate for my topic and audience? Am I repeating my argument, or sounding redundant?

Question 5--Revisions SENTENCE FLUENCY: Do my sentences flow smoothly? Do my sentences vary in length and structure? Am I incorporating complex sentences?